Today, Bird Photography was Part of My Job!

sm4him · Feb 26, 2014

So, today I got to do a little bird photography for work! Not every day THAT happens, but if you love birds and photography, it definitely makes for a pleasant day!
Which is good, because my morning got off to a pretty rough start.

But this afternoon, my boss came in to tell me that there was a huge flock of Cedar Waxwings out in some trees on the Pedestrian Walkway outside our building.
I'd left my camera in the car, and didn't even bring my birding lens--but I got thinking about it, and realized that those trees are pretty short, so it might still be a pretty decent look at the Waxwings, even without the Sigma lens.

So, I made the reasonably short trek to the car and back to get the camera and my trusty old Nikon 70-300 lens. The birds didn't stick around for long after I got to the walkway (of course!!), but they did at least let me get a few decent shots of them.

Oh, and the reason this qualifies as doing bird photography FOR work, rather than just while AT work is because my boss wanted me to post some of them on our FB page. Plus, at least one of these photos will almost certainly end up in our calendar for next year.

1. Cedar Waxwings having a BERRY good lunch. Ha! I crack me up!

2. Balancing Act

3. Down the hatch!

4. Not a great shot--took it just to show several of the birds at once. But check out the bird in the middle top of the photo!

5. I just love these birds! These are so elegant looking!

As always, C&C, general comments and witty banter are all highly esteemed!

tecboy · Feb 26, 2014

1 and 5 look very nice.

pixmedic · Feb 26, 2014

bird is the word!

tirediron · Feb 26, 2014

Very nice!

JacaRanda · Feb 26, 2014

Yayyyy, I am glad you got to catch them. Love balancing act

DarkShadow · Feb 26, 2014

I only seen one waxwing here I got a shot of. One thing I noticed about waxwing is the lack of feather detail,there feathers seem so tight to there body and Could be how they get there name,they got a wax job smoothie.I wish I had a job part of bird photography,they probably have to send a search party out looking for me when i never return. Nice shots.

BillM · Feb 26, 2014

I've never actually seen one of those but i feel like i have after looking at #5, i think that would look great in a calendar :thumbup:

LarryLomona · Feb 26, 2014

Very nicely done.

sm4him · Feb 26, 2014

Thanks, all! I sure did wish a time or two for that extra 200mm of reach the Sigma would have gotten me, but that is still the closest I've ever been able to get to them. Usually, around here, they flit from tree to tree, but stay in the really tall trees, way up high in them, so it's hard to get decent shots.
Tomorrow, I'm taking the Sigma and keeping it in my trunk. JUST in case they make a return visit.

DarkShadow said:
I only seen one waxwing here I got a shot of. One thing I noticed about waxwing is the lack of feather detail,there feathers seem so tight to there body and Could be how they get there name,they got a wax job smoothie.I wish I had a job part of bird photography,they probably have to send a search party out looking for me when i never return. Nice shots.

I was gonna say, "you have NO idea" how hard it was to give up and come back inside (I was really wanting them to fly again so I could get some BIF shots), but come to think of it, I believe YOU *do* know just how hard that was.

BillM said:
I've never actually seen one of those but i feel like i have after looking at #5, i think that would look great in a calendar :thumbup:

Funny you should mention that, because as I was processing them, I thought that #5 is, in all likelihood, the one that will end up in the calendar. Partly because that white background is the bus platform canopy--drivers and other employees are likely to recognize it as such, so it'll be obvious it was taken at work.